The FBI confirmed that they found no evidence about a possible terrorist attack on the Los Angeles subway. On Tuesday the city authorities ordered an increase of security measures on the red line metro after an anonymous call, made by an Australian phone line, warned that there would be an attack on the Universal metro station. The increased security measures are still operating as a precaution.
The leaders of the United States and five other Western powers are calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Syrian city of Aleppo. President Barack Obama is joining the leaders of Britain, Germany, Italy, France and Canada in a joint statement demanding Syria’s government to address the humanitarian crisis by allowing U.N. aid in to eastern Aleppo. They’re accusing Russia of obstruction at the Security Council. The leaders say Russia and Iran claim to want to work toward a political solution but are unwilling.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, affirmed that the United States have said that it is revoking its proposals of December 2 concerning the withdrawal of militants from eastern Aleppo, while Washington’s new proposals would let the extremists take a break. Lavrov stated that all attempts at starting a serious discussion with the United States over Syria had proved futile. According to Russian Foreign Minister, the USA are currently working on an alternative plan for the city. At a rendezvous with Lavrov in Rome on December Kerry called for Russian-US consultations on eastern Aleppo. Washington’s initiative came against the background of the Syrian army’s successes in the struggle against extremists in the city. Kerry’s proposals envisaged coordination of dates and routes for the militants’ pullout from eastern Aleppo. It was expected that Russian and US experts were to enter into consultations over Kerry’s initiative in Geneva on 6th or 7th December. He said the Wednesday consultations are canceled at this point. Lavrov also added that there is nothing to be rejected. A Russian-US agreement has not been formalized yet. Anyway, “those who will refuse to leave of their own accord will be wiped out. There is no other solution”.
The alliance between the US and Japan looks set to strengthen further in the near future. The first sign was the meeting “frank and friendly” between the president-elect Trump and the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe last November 17, the first informal meeting for the incoming administration with a foreign head of government. The second step, which is more symbolically and politically significant, is the announcement of Abe’s visit to Pearl Harbour, in concomitance with the celebrations in memory of Japanese air attack on US port of Hawaii, which claimed 2,400 victims and pushed the USA to enter the war 75 years ago, on December 7, 1941.
The visit, planned for the end of December, promises to be an act of historic significance that aims to strengthen ties between the two countries and to inaugurate a new phase in bilateral relations between the shores of the Pacific. The more concrete aspects concern the Japanese need to reduce the uncertainties regarding the future US policy toward the Rising Sun, fueled by the unregulated Trump presidential campaign that, among other things, urged Tokyo to contribute more to the costs for the US military bases on Japanese soil.
The visit will culminate with a summit between Japanese Prime Minister and the outgoing president Obama, the next 26 and 27 December, delivering a clear message to the new administration: the alliance works as it is and should not be questioned. Obama and Abe have decisively contributed, on several occasions, to cement strategic cooperation between their countries. In 2015 the common defense guidelines were updated and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces were authorized to intervene in the US Army side in a limited number of scenarios.
Trump, however, has not been kind to Japan during the recent presidential campaign. After asking for more money to continue to ensure the presence of American military bases in the Archipelago, the candidate Trump criticized Obama for having visited Hiroshima, in the role of first US president to pay homage to the victims of the nuclear bombing that ended the World War II in the Pacific. According to Trump, Obama would have also remembered the victims of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour where “thousands of American lives have been lost.”
The next visit of Abe, therefore, serve to compensate for the gesture of Obama’s opening and to give the new administration the image of a Japan willing to look at the past with different eyes. According to the analyst Kent Calder, from Johns Hopkins University, the Abe’s visit will make the alliance with Japan more acceptable for Trump supporters, facilitating future relations.
On the Japanese front, Abe has always seemed willing to question that page of national history, at least in part by recognizing the responsibilities of his country. During a joint session of Congress, last year, the Prime Minister of Sol Levante made express reference, for the first time, to the Pearl Harbour attack, without offering an official apology. Also in anticipation of the visit of late December, the issue of apologies will remain suspended. Abe intends to bring “comfort” to the Japanese victims of the attack of 75 years ago and pay tribute to their memory, but can not be expected to use a straightforward language that can be read at home as the formulation of a public apology in favor of the former enemy.
On the American front, Abe’s visit could hurt the feelings of the survivors victims relatives, a concern which the incoming administration is certainly very sensitive to. Josh Earnest, the current Press Secretary of the White House, does not rule out that the Japanese visit will embitter the victims of the attack, even after so much time. Earnest, however, said he is confident that many will put aside their dose of bitterness, recognizing the historic significance of the event.
The visit promises, then, to be a success for Obama, who seeks to consolidate its legacy with a symbolic and diplomatic victory at a time when its main achievements on the international front, the agreement on the Iranian nuclear and the reconciliation between Washington and Havana , risk to be overwhelmed by the wave of the new Trump administration.
Shinzo Abe will be the one ,however, to reap the best fruits. The visit will serve to the prime minister to shake off the label of the historical revisionist, who accompanies him since his election, and that tarnishes his image at home and especially abroad. Fumiaky Kubo, a historian interviewed by the Japan Times, argues that Abe, despite the bad reputation, has made ” has made more progress in wartime reconciliation than any other prime minister. This
could be a model case for a reconciliation and set an example that both sides have to make efforts”
At a time when the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) seems doomed to failure, and the territorial dispute over the islands between Kamchatka and Hokkaido that opposes Japan to Russia is stopped into a siding, a strengthening of the partnership with the US could be the succes Abe needs to boost his government’s action on the international stage. Even at the risk of watering down the verve of nationalism that has always characterized is administration.
Many experts consider the phone call between the President of Taiwan and the President-elect of the United States Trump is not coincidental. It would seem that already during the electoral campaign Trump and his collaborators have thought about a reconciliation between the USA and Taiwan to balance the Chinese power in the the South Chinese Sea and to respond to the raising of customs duties imposed by Beijing.
In spite of the decrease of oil production decided by OPEC, the American oil companies recorded an increase of production. The decision of American companies has fueled a speculation that pushed up oil prices to $ 1.35 daily, compared with 10 cents of average. Some analysts suspect that there isn’t a long-term agreement between the OPEC countries about the amount of oil to be extracted.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, revealed a proposal made by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, to Russia about the procedure for the withdrawal of rebel forces from the Syrian city of Aleppo. He also said that the two countries will discuss the issue in the coming days. The Russian Foreign Minister added that any armed group that refuses to leave Aleppo will be treated by Russia as terrorists, adding that Moscow will support the Syrian Army’s operations against them. The proposal by Kerry was handed over on Saturday, after he and Lavrov met in Rome. On Monday, Lavrov said that negotiations on the plan are expected to begin on Tuesday morning. He added that the beginning of the talks had been postponed by a few days at Washington’s request.
Damascus is ready to cooperate with US President-elect Donald Trump if his policies are in line with Damascus’ expectations, the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s Political and Media Adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said on Thursday. Shaaban said that Damascus hopes the United States to become an active participant in the fight against terrorism. She added that Syria is not interested in the elections’ result, confirming that what concerns Damascus is the new President’s policies and how it would coincide with Syria’s expectations.
A few days before the US presidential elections, while the more corrosive election campaign in living memory come to end, in an atmosphere of absolute uncertainty, the candidate Trump collects the support of Cambodia’s prime minister and a Republican Hindu group. The origin of these positions, in both cases, is the fear that a Clinton victory could lead to a foreign policy contrary to the interests of Cambodia and India. Let’s order.
Hun Sen, cambodian Prime Minister, strong man of the small country in South-East Asia, in power for nearly three decades, today expressed its wish to be Donald Trump to emerge victorious from the polls next Tuesday. His election, argues Sen, would guarantee an easing of tensions between the US and Russia and the maintenance of peace globally. Hun Sen is under pressure ahead of internal elections of 2018, accused by US, UN and the European Union of not ensuring respect for human rights in the country and lack of commitment in the fight against corruption. A Trump victory would lead to a softening of positions by the United States? Sen, obviously, wishes it.
During a speech in front of the national police academy, the prime minister has thus explained his endorsement: Frankly speaking, for me, I really want to see Trump win the election. If Trump wins, the world will be changed and will be better because Trump is a businessman and as a businessman he never wants war,”. In addition, the tycoon would be a good friend of Vladimir Putin and Russia, strategic ally of Cambodia since the fall, in 1979, of the Pol Pot regime.
Clinton, with whom Hun Sen met several times when she served as Secretary of State, would represent a risk to the future of relations between the US and Russia and would promote an aggressive foreign policy on all international theaters. The American intervention in Syria would have been determined, according to Sen, by the pressure from Clinton on President Obama. A precedent that would give the measure of the risks posed by a possible Democratic victory at next Tuesday elections.
The voices raised by some sectors of the Hindu community in the US in favor of Donald Trump are less influential, perhaps, but still represent an interesting element of analysis to understand how the different communities of the American melting-pot fare watching to the presidential election through the lens of their specific interests.
The Hindu Republican Coalition (RHC), a ‘pro-republican organization of Hindu inspiration, released on American TV channels a commercial directed against Hillary Clinton, accused of being too pro-Pakistani. The Democratic Candidate, when she was Secretary of State, would have directed to the historic enemy of India billions of dollars in aid, would have sold weapons to the Islamabad regime and would now accept funding from Pakistani pro-Islamist individuals and organizations. Finally, the RHC lashes out against her husband and former president Bill Clinton, considered too close to the Pakistani positions on the Kashmir issue, and against Hillary’s personal assistant, Huma Abedin, half Indian and half Pakistani, accusing her of indirectly supporting Islamic terrorism in the sub-continent. ” Vote Republican – great for you, great for US-Indian relations and great for America.”
Not all of the Indo-American community is in favor of candidate Trump, of course. The Indian American Supporters of Clinton attacked the RHC organization’s commercial, calling it ” misleading, incorrect and false.”
Both inside and outside US borders, the world looks to the presidential elections of 8 November 2016 expressing its different points of view.